Grand Hotel Panoramic Montecatini Terme

On our way north, from Rome, towards the Italian Riviera we made just a slight detour to Pisa to see the famous Torre Pendente (leaning tower). We're here to tell you, it is in fact leaning and we weren't interested in climbing to the top to see if we could get it to lean any more (and trust us, with the amount of pasta, vino, formaggio, etc. combined with the large amounts of tourists at the top of this structure... you never know). But ...

Pisa

woke up to pouring rain again so lucky we had a good look at the views the afternoon before… but made a tricky drive down in rain then onto Autostade.. Very fast but pouring rain to start with… finned up as we neared the coast… made it to Pisa… drove in traffic and down one way streets.. Mainly the right way we ...

... B we had booked… it was a restored castle on top of the hills in Tuscany… after much winding roads on what appeared to be a single road to nowhere we found it and it was worth the effort…..we sat on to of the hill looking at olive groves and the hills beyond.. Magnificent…. Dinner was a Florentine steak.. Yes just one steak between 4 of us.. The biggest T-bone in the world… amazingly tender .. View from top of mountain great….

... the southern most of the five towns. As soon as I got there it felt unique. Narrow alleys full of stairs leading in every direction, obviously helping me get lost on the way to the hostel. Luckily for me a cute old Italian lady poked her head out of her door and directed me, in Italian, which way to go. I didn’t understand a word she said, but it got me to where I was going.

The hostel that had been ...

... too, and it really contributed to the experience. We also toured the Pitti Palace and stumbled upon some famous art we didn't even know was there. Among the cheap wine and free food, we learnt cool facts about this medieval place and the ruling of the Medici family. Also, (we didn't go into any) but Florence most likey has the best shoe shopping in the world. And a shoe museum. Just saying......Italy was off to a sweet start.

Now.. your Rome update!

Jus and Mur

This morning we got to breakfast at 8, and it was made up of a selection of rolls, croissants, cereal, prosciutto (ham slices), salami, formaggio, cafe, juice and water. We headed down to the car rental place at around 10 and picked up our car. It is a stunning piece of machinery. Dad is going to be at the wheel for this trip, and he needed to get used to the manual transmission for a little bit, but he got the hang of it. We headed off in the direction that the ...

... more than an hour. Laura is a Florence native, so she had a lot of knowledge about the city and its stories. She did not, however, know why all of the streets were designed to direct rainfall, but had no openings for a sewer system. In case you didn't know me, huge nerd. I'm even on vacation and I ask questions like that. We had a few minutes to talk to her waiting for everyone else to meet at our rendezvous after lunch in the Mercato Centrale, which Evan, Dhrumil and I ...

... the Uffizi. we had to wait in line for awhile, museums are usually crowded on Sundays, so we took turns getting food at the nearby piazza that is surrounded by the coolest statues. inside, the museum is filled with beautiful painting, more and more statues, and the famous Birth of Venus painting. after the Uffizi we walked across the famous bridge of Florence that is covered in shops. you see the bridge from far ...

... sang Like a Virgin, and everyone went nuts. We were the first ones from our group who went up, so everyone cheered and danced. So fun. After sex on the table, I was all set to go up again with Melissa. We wanted to do Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, but he didn't have it. How he could not have a classic like that, I don't understand. So instead, he gave us "Boom Boom Boom" by the Venga Brothers. I didn't even know that song! But it was still fun ...

... filled with military and army people dressed in a half dozen different costumes. Navy, army, carabinieri, and a few other I don't remember. They all lined up facing the basilica and beside the huge tower to the right. Then just after 11:30, music began to blast from a huge speaker, seding pigeons flying for cover. It could have been the Italian anthem, but I only ever hear that never so I don't know what it was. A bunch of men came into the square carrying flags and ...